Interactive television (ITV) combines conventional television with additional content, referred to as ITV content, to present a viewer with an enhanced version of audiovisual television content, such as a broadcast television program, commercial or VOD content. As used herein, the term ITV content refers to any additional information or application that is invoked to create one of the aforementioned enhanced television experiences.
An ITV application may be a time-based application that contains ITV events that are tightly linked to an underlying audiovisual content element. Such time-based ITV events may invoke tightly synchronous interactive content such as, for example, play-along game content, karaoke, contextual quizzes, interactive advertisement content, and the like. Under current systems, however, the creating and maintaining tight synchronization of an ITV event with an underlying content element in a consistent and automated fashion remains a challenge. For example, any delay or interruption in the delivery of a television program segment causes the ITV event to be invoked before or after the relevant program segment. Furthermore, losses or alternations to the program data during its transmission process, or latencies in the receiving client during the display of the program, all negatively effect the synchronization of the ITV event to its underlying content element.
Accordingly, what is desired is a system and method which helps maintain synchronization of time-based ITV applications to their underlying audiovisual content elements.